Label printers are widely used within commerce markets including manufacturing, distribution, etc. Many label stocks used in these printers are purchased in a pre-designed and/or pre-cut format. The shapes of these labels may be very complex and it is costly and time consuming for the producer of these label stocks to create these complex label shapes. Furthermore, aligning these pre-cut stocks in the printer is a time-consuming and error-prone process, as the pre-cut label areas must be precisely aligned to place text and images in the correct area of a label. Accordingly, synchronizing printing and cutting process of the label in a single printing unit is a more efficient option enabling on demand label creation and accurate cutting.
Typical prior art cutting assemblies incorporated into printer hardware are implemented in the form of an incising head mounted on a printer carriage moving linearly perpendicular to the direction of media feed, a pantograph mounted incising head moving in two dimensions across the media, a fixed linear matrix of cutting devices mounted perpendicular to the direction of media feed, or a fixed linear incising device perpendicular to the direction of media feed. The main drawback associated with one or more of these approaches is that a separate and complex drive system is required for the cutting assembly to ensure the cutting performed at the speed at which the head assembly “flies” across the paper, and the output of the printer and requirements for control of the print head become dependent upon the requirements of the cutting head, including required speed of throughput, and any media stoppage or reversal that may be required to make a complex cut.
As shown above, cutting assemblies known in the art do not provide for cutting at the printer line speed and can not be adjusted for any type of printer. Accordingly, there is currently a need for a cutting apparatus that can be detachably integrated into any type of printing hardware to cut printed media at the full line speed and without affecting the control methods of the print head and rollers of the printing hardware. There is furthermore a need for a cutting apparatus to enable creating complex label shapes at a reasonable speed, to ensure any label can be generated on demand at any time.